5 Simple Swaps to Make Your Baby’s Room Eco-Friendly and Nontoxic

In spite of how little they are, babies can produce huge amounts of waste, especially if you use conventional rather than eco-friendly products like disposable diapers.  A single baby wearing disposable diapers, for example, creates 2,000 pounds of garbage before being potty trained!  Some baby products have also been shown to be toxic to infants – for example, fire retardant fabrics commonly used in children’s pajamas have been shown to cause thyroid, liver and neurodevelopmental toxicity.  But don’t fret, because it’s easy to make a few simple swaps in your baby’s room, reducing your baby’s impact on the environment and protecting your baby!

1. Paint

The first step to getting baby’s room ready is getting the room ready and painting.  You’ll want to choose eco-friendly paints and make sure to air out the room properly for a week after painting to ensure the air is as fresh as possible.  Standard paints can contain toluene, formaldehyde and other nasty chemicals which are suspected to cause birth defect, cancer and a range of issues.  Instead, opt for an eco friendly paint made without these chemicals.

2. Crib

The simplest environmentally-conscious option may be to buy a secondhand crib – just make sure that what you purchase is up to current safety standards.  When buying new, investigate eco options, such as cribs made of bamboo or reclaimed wood and as above, make sure any paint used is free of potentially toxic chemicals!  Finally, yo may be able to get a crib that converts into a toddler bed, meaning you can use it longer and avoid an additional purchase.  When you’re done with the crib, be sure to sell or pass it on, so others have the option of a secondhand crib!

3. Bedding

Swap out standard blankets for an organic or naturally dyed option, and do your research before purchasing a mattress, as well.  Researchers have called into question several components of mattresses which some believe cause respiratory issues and other problems.

4. Window Treatments

Choose fabric (preferably organic cotton) window treatments.  Mini blinds manufactured in other countries may contain lead.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends removing mini blinds from homes with children under the age of 6 due to risk of lead poisoning.  When the sun heats vinyl blinds which contain lead, a lead dust settles on the surface of the blinds.  Young children may ingest lead by wiping their hands on the blinds and then putting their hands to their mouths.

5. Diapers and Changing Table

If you’re buying a changing table, make sure you either get one secondhand, or buy one made from reclaimed or sustainable wood.  And last but not least, diapers are one of the biggest ways you can reduce your little one’s footprint on the earth.  Diapers are a huge contributor to landfill waste, constituting 30% of non-biodegradable waste!  An average baby will go through a whopping 8,000 diapers, which last hundreds of years in landfills.  The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association advise against disposing of fecal matter and urine in the normal trash because it can contaminate groundwater and spread disease.  However, despite many disposable diaper packages warning people against the same, how many people do you know who rinse out their disposable diapers?  Dumping disposable diapers in the trash helps contribute to the 5 million tons of untreated human waste in our landfills today – totally gross!

By switching to cloth diapers, you can save money (they may require an initial upfront investment but in the long term will likely save you money), reduce the amount of trash and protect our groundwater supply against contamination, thereby safeguarding the environment for your baby’s future!  You can also reuse diapers if you have more children in the future, and even use them as rags until they wear out completely.  Now that’s eco-friendly and cost efficient!

Other eco-friendly replacements you may want to look into for your little green monster: low-energy lights for the nursery, secondhand rocking chairs (or a rocking chair made from reclaimed wood) and eco-friendly floor options like bamboo flooring.

Image source: D.Sharon Pruitt/Wikimedia